Thorough Explanation of my Death

Here is a journal entry I wrote. (Not actually real)

Dear Journal,
It is late August, and today I volunteered to sneak behind enemy lines to spy on the British, after the British won the Battle of Long Island and has taken over New York City. General Washington has retreated his troops back to the islands northern tip in Harlem Heights.

Sincerely,
Nathan Hale

Later afterwards, on September 21, 1776, there was a big fire later called the Great New York Fire of 1776. People said that this fire was started by the Americans last attempt to prevent the British from taking over the area, even if Congress rejected the idea. Some say that the fire was started by the British to scare away of the remaining Patriots in the area. But, the truth remains, there was 200 people rounded up that day, and i was one of them...

How exactly did the British figure out that I was a Patriot? I'm not even sure. According to a shopkeeper in Connecticut, I was met by Major Robert Rogers in a Tavern. Supposedly, he saw through my disguise and I was dragged back to British headquarters. Others say that my loyalist cousin reported me to the British.

I met General Howe in a place in rural Manhattan. He questioned me, searched me, and found the notes I had been taking for the Patriots. I was officially declared a spy. The traditional rule is that spy's were hanged as illegal combatants. So the next day, I was to be hanged.

On September. 22, 1776, after spending the night in the greenhouse of the mansion, I was marched down to the artillery. I was asked one final time if I wanted to be spared and use my skills for the British. I refused without even flinching. The general asked if I had any last regrets, this is what I said, 'I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country." I was 21 when I died but I had lived a fulfilling life.